Explore "Murder by the Clock" by Rufus King on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
"Doctor," Lieutenant Valcour said, "our immediate concern is to find out who fired that shot. The principal reason is quite academic: we want to catch and arrest the person who did it. A secondary reason is that many people who reach the state of mental unbalance where they are impelled to commit murder don't stop with the crime. They've tasted blood. They are in a state of abnormal acuteness, and are driven by a new fear: that of discovery and capture. To prevent being captured, they reason, why not kill again? There is nothing to be lost. You see, they can only be electrocuted once. I am presupposing, of course, that the criminal is an outsider -- some person at present hidden in the house, who will make some desperate effort at escape. It is a supposition that must be entertained, even though it is not a very good one. I believe that the facts will eventually prove the criminal to be a legitimate inmate."
"That narrows the field, doesn't it, Lieutenant, to whoever was in Mrs. Endicott's room?"